Bhopal : Moments after Congress issued a gag order to its party members, asking them not to comment on the trailer and release of The Accidental Prime Minister, the Madhya Pradesh government has banned the Manmohan Singh biopic in the state. Kamal Nath, the chief minister of the Congress-led state, has decided to ban the film till the state government reviews the situation. The move, ironically, mirrors reaction of BJP-ruled states to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat.
The Accidental Prime Minister’s Madhya Pradesh ban seems to follow a trend of political agendas maneuvering ban on films in certain states. Images from Facebook
The film, which features Anupam Kher as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is adapted from the book written by Singh’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru.
Since the launch of The Accidental Prime Minister trailer, the film has led to controversies,with the Maharashtra State Youth Congress and Punjabi Cultural Heritage Board sending notices to the producers of the film to hold private screenings for them before the release of the film. There has been considerable backlash against the film as well with many stating that the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is using the feature to malign Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala termed the film a political propaganda and stated that the release date was a consciously planned decision.
Kher recently spoke up on the issue as well, saying if patriotic films could release on Independence Day and Republic Day, he does not understand why a political film could not be released in the middle of elections. He added that since Rahul Gandhi recently endorsed freedom of speech, he should reprimand his party members for their ‘goondagardi’.
The ban of the Manmohan Singh biopic is only a recent development in the string of similar events witnessed this year. Most recently, Kedarnath screenings were prohibited in Uttarakhand, ruled by BJP, following objections from several Hindu groups and party leaders. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had formed a committee headed by state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj to decide on the fate of the film and ultimately came to the conclusion of banning it. The primary concerns were that many felt that the film promoted ‘love jihad’ and hurt Hindu sentiments.
The beginning of 2018 saw an uproar at a much larger scale when Padmaavat was banned in several states after protests from Raput Karni Sena. The period drama was banned in four states — Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. All the states were ruled by the BJP government. The bans were implemented to ‘maintain law and order’ after Karni Sena threatened violence against the screening of the film that allegedly depicted their idol Rani Padmini in bad light. The Rajput outfit, in fact, demanded a nation-wide ban on Padmaavat, claiming that the film distorted the historical legacy of the Rajputs.
Bureau Report
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